Social Studies

As the number of elderly is rising and the social environment is changing, the percentage of the needy among them is also increasing. These factors are also leading to the need for a large number of old-age homes where the elderly may enjoy the end part of their lives in a group of their specific. The effect of the above causes may be observed in the living arrangements of old age Indians. With the evolution of the rural population, the area of arable land is lessening to meet the increased plea for housing, leading to incremental and disguised unemployment. As a result, the rural commonalities are forced to voyage to the urban areas in search of a livelihood. According to the framework of economic development developed by Arthur Lewis, the movement of labour from the “traditional sector” involving agriculture and allied areas that produce traditional outputs for all societies, to the “modern sector” (industrial area, which produces manufactured items) is placed on the centre stage. The traditional sector may be assumed to supply an unconstrained number of labourers, but the absorption of the same critically depends on the supply of capital to the modern sector. The level of savings and investment funds are the determinants of the growth of the modem sector and, hence, the generation of employment as well as the process of urbanization. This paper deals with the issues of aged people in India.

Widow inheritance is a prevalent cultural practice among some Asian and Sub Saharan African communities and has been found to affect the lives of widows. The general purpose of this study was to establish socio-economic implications of widow inheritance rituals. The objectives of the study were to: describe the rituals associated with widow inheritance, decipher the underlying cultural meaning and value of widow inheritance rituals and explore the socio-economic implications of widow inheritance rituals. The theoretical framework was anchored on Clifford Geertz theory of the interpretation of culture. This theory puts emphasis on the uniqueness of a ritual that one may not find even in a similar culture. The uniqueness derives from their loci. Descriptive research design was adopted in this study. The study population was 214 people of Kagan clan in Homabay County. Simple random sampling was used to select 48 widows, 7 Luo elders and 10 HIV intervention officers. The study sample therefore, comprised a total of 65 key informants. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data from the sampled respondents. The test-retest approach was used to determine the reliability of the research instruments and validity of the instruments was ascertained by presenting the questionnaires and interview guide to experts who are authorities in the study area for scrutiny and advice on the instruments. Qualitative thematic analysis was the main method adopted in analysing data. The researcher found out that despite the original good intensions of widow inheritance rituals, the current practice involving professional inheritors, an alternative as cleansing ritual, has made widows vulnerable to HIV and AIDS and the practice was degrading and humiliating the widows. The study concluded that widow inheritance has got adverse effects on widows’ socio-economic lives. Therefore the study recommended that community based education targeting the Luo elders, widow inheritors and inherited widows should be enhanced so that safer sexual practices are adopted even as widow inheritance rituals continue. In addition, widows and inheritors empowerment through education is necessary to enable them make informed choices.

The digital divide manifests the unbalanced growth between developed and developing world. This paper analyzed the existing digital divide through retrieving data in the period of 2000 - 2014 in Ethiopia. The result revealed that a huge gap in sex-disaggregated information appeared in Ethiopia. In addition, poverty, education and infrastructural development significantly affected accessibility, use and skill discrepancy in ICT between the genders. The digital divide trajectory is diminishing over time as the educational attainment and level of income increasing.

Motivation plays an integral role in any kind of learning in general and consequently language learning in particular. Demotivation,the other side of motivation (Dornyei, 2001a), is regarded as a very significant factor in language learning. As Dornyei (2001b) postulates in second language learning ,demotivation has a central role and more studiesare required to be undertaken in this regard(p. 5). However, there is a dearth of research in demotivation in both EFL and ESL contexts.They are categorized into three majorfields: Causes related to a) instructors, b) learning/teaching context, and c) learners.

The study was conducted to study the effects of the use of pieces of rubber as a partial substitute in bitumen flexible pave ACW 14. Bitumen is one of the binder materials used in construction of roads and pave has increased prices and costs to achieve it. As a result of increasing economic and traffic load, road bitumen structure designed should have the durability and capability services play a key role in the communication network, the most important. Objective of this study is to reduce the quantity of bitumen used and replaced with pieces of rubber. Therefore, many efforts have been undertaken to improve the quality of the existing bitumen. In this study, modified bitumen grade 80/100 pricking is done with the addition of various pieces of rubber per cent content. Percentage of rubber used is 0%, 3%, 6%, 9%, 12% and 15% of the total amount of bitumen used. ACW 14 mixes compacted with mechanical junkie and tested values Marshall Stability. Potential ACW 14 modified with a mixture of rubber elasticity modulus obtained by studying, scorching and Maximum Load and then compared with the control capabilities through a mixture of ACW 14 Indirect Tensile Test. Once the three parameters were studied, the percentage of rubber content can be determined that the optimal content of 12% rubber. Based on studies conducted, it found pieces of rubber bitumen ability to increase capacity by an increasing in the occurrence of Blowing Point Temperature Index and pricking of altered samples. It also can decrease the value of pricking. In addition the ability of a mixture of slip resistance also showed good results through the slip resistance test. Overall analysis carried out shows, the addition of pieces of rubber in the mixture can enhance the capability of the mixture 14 as ACW pave flexible.

Reaching the goal of using a language -communication and interaction- is only possible with choosing the most appropriate language devices in both spoken and written genres. There are a plenty of such devices of which discourse markers are paramount. Speakers need to be able to master discourse markers, particularly discourse markers of reformulation, in order to be able to communicate as well as to be recognized as a proficient member of their community. In response to research recommending a more explicit focus on variation among adolescent, this article aims to add to the study of adolescent speech production from a reformulation-centered perspective as well as to add to socio-pragmatic studies. This paper was an attempt to presents the results of analyzing transcriptions of reciprocal oral interaction in a simulated informal context, for Iranian female adolescents, discussing the importance, frequency, and distribution of the different types of reformulation markers (namely paraphrastic and non-paraphrastic) through employing Gülich and Kotschi’s (1995) classification. The analysis revealed no significant differences in employing different types of reformulators. The low frequency of observed reformulation samples revealed that Farsi adolescent speakers are not highly concerned with the use of reformulation markers. They took advantage of a few non-paraphrastic reformulators to clarify their intention. Regarding reformulators of explanation, as a sub category of paraphrastic reformulators, they tended to employ it more in comparison with other subcategories. Accordingly, some suggestions on further research of the present study are proposed.

Based on a well-known saying in the field of language teaching, teaching language is nothing but teaching culture. This study is also another evidence for this saying. In other words, the aim of this study was, in fact, to highlight the role of teaching foreign language culture in language learning and teaching. To conduct the intended purpose, two questionnaires were distributed among the student and teacher participants of the study in Shiraz, Iran. The purpose of using the two questionnaires was to find out first, to what extent teachers and students are aware of the role of foreign culture awareness in language learning and teaching; and second, to what extent does teachers are aware of the strategies and techniques of teaching foreign language culture and how students benefit from it. The study revealed that first, both students and teachers do believe that culture and language are inseparable and second, teachers were able to conduct strategies and techniques of teaching foreign language culture to emphasize it in class. The study also provides a few implications regarding the culture and language teaching.

Stress is an adaptive response, mediated by individual characteristics and/or psychological processes that are a consequence of any external action, situation or event that places special physical and/or psychological demands upon a person. A total of 112 out of 132 rehabilitation counsellors completed occupational stress questionnaire and 13 administrators were interviewed in five counties. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and percentages) were used to analyse the data. Results of the study revealed that the causes of occupational stress were found to be workload, clients’, organisational and interpersonal demands. The study further revealed that demographic and work characteristics interacted with the causes of occupational stress. This study recommends that regular assessment of occupational stress for preventive measures be done among the respondents.

A study was conducted to assess the impact of the distance education courses on dairy and goat farming on knowledge gained, skills obtained and economic benefits attained by the learners, based on the data collected from 100 respondents randomly selected. A majority of the respondents gained knowledge in credit / insurance (96.50%), housing systems (95.33%), farm economics (83.67%), clean milk production (82.67%), calf rearing (81.67%) and feed and feeding methods (80.33%). The respondents with small herd size (<6.07 cattle units) increased their cattle units by 2.06, while medium farmers (6.07 to 9.10 cattle units) increased farm size by 3.38 cattle and large farmers (>9.10 cattle units) by 5.66 cattle. Further, the small farmer respondents gained a daily average milk yield of 1.64 litres, while medium farmers gained a milk yield of 1.69 litres and large farmers 1.47 litres, with the percentage gain ranging between 48.34 and 66.17. The respondents in small farmer category gained an additional income of Rs.24,637.50 per annum through sale of milk, while medium and large farmers gained Rs.28,554.23 and Rs.53,029.29 per annum, respectively. The per cent gain ranged from 73.38 (medium farmer) to 122.26 (small farmer). There was a highly significant gain in production and income in all categories of farmers with respect to farm size, milk yield, sale of milk, dung and animals and net change in the value of stock.

This research paper was conducted to examine the prospects and part played by traditional rulers in community development with particular reference to Ikono Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State. Traditionally, the Ikono people have the paramount ruler who is the head of the traditional rulers in the Local Government, and village heads in the respective villages. The theory used is modernization theory propounded by Max Weber. T the study was carried out in nine (9) towns of Ikono Local Government Area. Based on the analysis of the data collection, the following result emerged, traditional rulers make positive impact in community development programmes in Ikono. There is significant role played by traditional rulers in implementing government policies at grassroots level. Some recommendations were also made to complement the role of traditional rulers in community Development which include; traditional rulership consultative forum and programme management committee should be set up at the local government level. The Local Government Chairman and councilors should be meeting with traditional Rulers during their executive council sessions. Seminars and training programmes like workshop for leaders and development of skills should from time to time be organized to enhance the roles of traditional rulers towards community development.